阿根廷喷洒的草甘膦除草剂从1990年到2012年增加了9倍。政府调查在儿童血样的80%发现农药残留。在圣菲省，癌症发生率达到全国癌症发生率平均水平的2倍到4倍。在Chaco省，生育畸形十年期间增加到4倍！布宜诺斯艾利斯大学分子生物学家卡拉斯阔博士说，化学品混合物配方作用令人担忧，但即便单独草甘膦对人类健康也造成麻烦：非常低剂量的草甘膦注射到胚胎中造成青蛙与鸡脊椎畸形，与医生们越来越多发现的新生儿畸形状态类似。“如果有可能在实验室中重复这样的过程，那么在实际状态下发生这种情况的可能性更加严重”。威尔森纳希博士决定找出阿根廷医院中癌症、新生儿畸形与流产剧增后边的原因。2010年以来，一家一户进行的流行病学研究考察了圣菲省65,000人，发现不同地区乳房癌、前列腺癌、肺癌等癌症发生率达到全国平均水平两倍到四倍。




Argentina's Genetically Engineered Hell

阿根廷的转基因地狱灾难

http://www.gmeducation.org/food-and-health/p216779-argentina-s-genetically-engineered-hell.html

转载自（美国）转基因教育网站 2013年10月22日发布的节录文章



Doctors are warning that uncontrolled pesticide applications could be the cause of devastating health problems among the 12 million people who live in Argentina's farm belt. News agency Associated Press has compiled a report which makes appalling reading. The following edited extracts highlight the human costs of Argentina's GM 'miracle.'

医生警告农药失控滥用可能是阿根廷密集种植农业区域1200万人灾难性健康问题的根源。美联社撰写了一篇阅读起来令人恐惧的报告。下边编辑节录的内容揭示阿根廷转基因“奇迹”的人类健康代价。



Schoolteacher Andrea Druetta lives in Santa Fe Province, the heart of Argentina's soy country, where agrochemical spraying is banned within 500 meters (550 yards) of populated areas.

安德里·德鲁塔，一位学校老师居住在圣菲省，阿根廷大豆种植区域核心地带，那里禁止在居民区500公尺距离范围喷洒农业化学品。



But soy is planted just 30 meters (33 yards) from her back door. Her boys were showered in chemicals recently while swimming in the backyard pool.

但是，大豆一直种植到她家后门30公尺处。她的儿子们在后院池塘游泳时被喷洒了农业化学品。



After Sofia Gatica lost her newborn to kidney failure, she filed a complaint that led to Argentina's first criminal convictions for illegal spraying. But last year's verdict came too late for many of her 5,300 neighbours in Ituzaingo Annex.

索菲亚·尕提卡的新生儿因肾衰竭死亡后，她起诉了喷洒农药者，成为阿根廷对于非法喷洒农药犯罪起诉第一案。但是，对于她Ituzaingo Annex地方5,300位邻居而言，去年的裁决来的太迟。



A government study there found alarming levels of agrochemical contamination in the soil and drinking water, and 80 percent of the children surveyed carried traces of pesticide in their blood.

一项政府调查发现土壤中与饮水中检测到令人警觉水平的农业化学品污染，还发现进行了检测的儿童的血液中80%发现农药残留。



In Santa Fe, cancer rates are two times to four times higher than the national average. In Chaco, birth defects quadrupled in the decade after biotechnology dramatically expanded farming in Argentina.

在圣菲省，癌症发生率达到全国癌症发生率平均水平的2倍到4倍。在Chaco省，阿根廷转基因作物迅速扩展以后，生育畸形十年期间增加到4倍！



"The change in how agriculture is produced has brought, frankly, a change in the profile of diseases," says Dr. Medardo Avila Vazquez, a paediatrician and neonatologist who co-founded Doctors of Fumigated Towns, part of a growing movement demanding enforcement of agricultural safety rules. "We've gone from a pretty healthy population to one with a high rate of cancer, birth defects, and illnesses seldom seen before."

“农业中农产品生产方式的改变带来，坦率的说，疾病构成的变化”，梅达拉多·阿维拉·瓦奎斯医生说，他是儿科医生与新生儿学专家，合作创立了《受农药熏蒸市镇的医生》，要求强化农业安全法规运动的一部分。“我们已经从原本相当健康人民，变成了癌症、新生儿畸形与过去少见疾病高发病率”。



The pall of poison

毒影笼罩之下



GMO technology and the toxic herbicides and pesticides that go with it have turned Argentina into the world's third-largest soybean producer. Today, its entire soy crop and nearly all its corn and cotton are genetically modified, with soy cultivation alone tripling to 47 million acres (19 million hectares).

转基因技术以及伴随的有毒除草剂和农药，将阿根廷变成世界第三大大豆生产国。今天，阿根廷种植的大豆、玉米与棉花几乎全部是转基因作物，大豆种植面积高达4700万英亩（1900万公顷）。



But the chemicals powering the boom aren't confined to soy and cotton and corn fields. The Associated Press documented dozens of cases around the country where poisons are applied in ways unanticipated by regulatory science or specifically banned by existing law.

但是，驱动转基因作物大规模种植的农业化学品不限于对转基因大豆、棉花与玉米农田的喷洒。美联社收集到数十个案例，表明这些毒性农用化学品正在以监管性科学未曾预料的方式以及现有法律禁止的方式使用。



l The spray drifts into schools and homes and settles over water sources; farm workers mix poisons with no protective gear; villagers store water in pesticide containers that should have been destroyed.

l 喷洒的农药漂流进入学习与居民区，落到水源区域；农业工人混合这些毒性化学品时不戴任何保护性装置；农村居民用毒性农药容器储存水，而不是将它们处理掉。



l Spraying is banned within 3 kilometres (1.9 miles) of populated areas in some provinces and as little as 50 meters (55 yards) in others. About one-third Argentina’s provinces set no limits at all, and most lack detailed enforcement policies.

l 某些省规定禁止在居民区距离3公里范围内喷洒有毒农用化学品，有些省份规定的禁止喷洒距离范围却只有50工程。阿根廷大约三分之一的省对此没有任何限制，而且绝大部分省份缺乏强制性政策。



l With soybeans selling for about $500 a ton, growers plant where they can, often disregarding guidelines and provincial law by spraying without giving advance warning, and even in windy conditions.

l 大豆每吨售价500美元情况下，种植者在能够种植的所有地方进行种植，往往忽视相关的指导原则与省法规，喷洒时不提前告知，甚至在刮风条件下也这样。



l In Entre Rios, teachers reported that sprayers failed to respect 50-metre (55-yard) limits at 18 schools, dousing 11 during class. Five teachers filed police complaints this year.

l 在Entre Rios地方，老师们报告：农业化学品喷洒者在18个学校周围不尊重50公尺禁止喷洒的规定，甚至在11个学校上课时继续喷洒。仅今年，已经有五位老师对此向警察提出举报。



l Druetta also filed complaints in Santa Fe, alleging that students fainted when pesticides drifted into their classrooms and that their tap water is contaminated. She is struggling to get clean drinking water into her school, she said, while a neighbour keeps a freezer of rabbit and bird carcasses, hoping someone will test them to see why they dropped dead after spraying.

l 德鲁特老师在圣菲向警察也提出这样的举报，申诉她的学生们因喷洒的农药漂流进入课堂而昏厥，同时造成自来水污染。她努力保证学校能够提供清洁的饮用水，一位邻居在冰箱中保存着兔子和鸟的尸体，希望有人能够检测它们，确认它们为什么在农药喷洒后落地而死。



l Buenos Aires forbids loading or hosing off spraying equipment in populated areas, but in the town of Rawson, it's done directly across the street from homes and a school, with the run-off flowing into an open ditch.

l 阿根廷的首都布宜诺斯艾利斯禁止在人口地区安装或卸下农业化学品喷洒设备，但是Rawson市，居住区与学校马路对面，有人却这样做，并且放任农业化学品泄露流到开放的沟渠。



l Felix San Roman says that when he complained about clouds of chemicals drifting into his yard, the sprayers beat him up, fracturing his spine and knocking out his teeth. He said he filed a complaint in 2011, but it was ignored.

l 菲利克斯·桑·罗曼说，他对于农业化学品雾飘到他的院子中提出了抱怨，结果被喷洒者打了一顿，造成脊裂，还打掉他的牙齿。他说他2011年注册了举报，但是至今遭到忽视。



l In January, activist Oscar Di Vincensi stood in a field near a friend's house waving a court ruling against spraying within 1,000 meters (1,100 yards) of homes in his town of Alberti. A tractor driver simply ignored him, dousing him in pesticide. Di Vincensi's video of that incident went viral on YouTube earlier this year.

l 1月份，活动家奥斯卡·迪·文森斯站在一位朋友的房子附近，摇晃法庭裁决禁止本地在居住区距离1公里范围内喷洒农药的告示。喷洒农药的拖拉机手完全忽视他，将农药喷洒到他的身上。迪·文森斯关于这个事件的录像上网到YouTube后受到疯转。



Safe if it’s used properly?

农业化学品如果正确使用是否安全？



Right at the centre of Argentina’s agricultural revolution is Monsanto’s patented crops and its glyphosate herbicide, Roundup.

阿根廷农业“革命”的核心是孟山都专利的转基因作物及其草甘膦除草剂农达。



According to Associated Press’ analysis of government and pesticide industry data agrochemical use in Argentina did decline at first, then it bounced back, increasing nine-fold from 9 million gallons (34 million liters) in 1990 to more than 84 million gallons (317 million litres) today as farmers squeezed in more harvests and pests became resistant to the poisons.

根据美联社对于政府与农药产业农业化学品在阿根廷使用数据的分析，它们开始使用后发生减少然后跳回并上升，从1990年大约900万加仑（3400万公升）急剧增多9倍2012年达到8400万加仑（3.17亿公升），每季喷洒更多的农药以便对付不断增长的抗性。



Overall, Argentine farmers apply an estimated 4.3 pounds of agrochemical concentrate per acre, more than twice that U.S. farmers use.

总体讲，阿根廷的农民每英亩预计喷洒4.3磅农业化学品，为美国农民用量高一倍。



Regulatory agencies, including those of the United States and European Union have determined the Roundup is safe if it’s applied properly.

美国与欧盟等国监管机构，都确定草甘膦除草剂农达是安全的，如果正确应用的话。



On May 1, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency even raised the allowable levels of glyphosate residues in food.

美国环境保护署（EPA）2013年5月1日甚至宣布提高食品中的草甘膦最高残留限量。


US EPA raises levels of glyphosate residue allowed in food

美国环保署（EPA）提高食物中允许的草甘膦残留水平

http://news.agropages.com/News/NewsDetail---10116.htm

中译文：http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_4bb17e9d0102e96e.html




But these decisions are based on industry research which critics say are inadequate and do not cover interactions of the “cocktail effect” when different agro-chemicals are used together.

但是这些决定仅基于产业界自己的研究，其批评者说，这些研究不足而且不包括将不同农用化学品混合在一起配方的“鸡尾酒作用”。



Molecular biologist Dr. Andres Carrasco at the University of Buenos Aires says the burden from the chemical cocktails is worrisome, but even glyphosate alone could spell trouble for human health.

阿根廷布宜诺斯艾利斯大学分子生物学家安德雷斯·卡拉斯阔博士说，化学品混合物配方的作用令人担忧，但是即便草甘膦单独也能够对人类健康造成麻烦。



He found that injecting a very low dose of glyphosate into embryos can change levels of retinoic acid, causing the same sort of spinal defects in frogs and chickens that doctors increasingly are registering in communities where farm chemicals are ubiquitous.

他发现，即便将非常低剂量的草甘膦注射到胚胎中也改变视黄酸的水平，造成青蛙与鸡脊椎畸形，与医生们在农用化学品无处不在区域社区中越来越多发现的新生儿畸形状态类似。



This acid, a form of vitamin A, is fundamental for keeping cancers in check and triggering genetic expression, the process by which embryonic cells develop into organs and limbs.

这种视黄酸是维生素A的一种，对于维持对于癌的（生物性）检查和触发相应的基因表达使胚胎细胞发育为器官和四肢的过程至关重要。



"If it's possible to reproduce this in a laboratory, surely what is happening in the field is much worse," Carrasco said. "And if it's much worse, and we suspect that it is, what we have to do is put this under a magnifying glass."

“如果有可能在实验室中重复这样的过程，那么在实际状态下发生这种情况的可能性更加严重”，卡拉斯阔教授说。“如果如此更加严重，而且我们怀疑是这样，我们就必须将这种状况放到放大镜下进行研究。”



A catalogue of cancers, miscarriages and birth defects

癌症、流产与生育缺陷不同情况的比较



Dr. Damian Verzenassi, who directs the Environment and Health program at the National University of Rosario's medical school, decided to try to figure out what was behind an increase in cancer, birth defects and miscarriages in Argentina's hospitals.

达米安·威尔森纳希博士，负责罗萨里奥国立大学医学院环境与健康研究机会，决定找出阿根廷医院中癌症、新生儿畸形与流产剧增后边的原因。



"We didn't set out to find problems with agrochemicals. We went to see what was happening with the people," he said.

“我们并不是从寻找农用化学品的问题出发进行这项研究。我们是为了找到对人民究竟发生了什么事而去从事这项研究”，他说。



Since 2010, this house-to-house epidemiological study has reached 65,000 people in Santa Fe province, finding cancer rates two times to four times higher than the national average, including breast, prostate and lung cancers. Researchers also found high rates of thyroid disorders and chronic respiratory illness.

2010年以来，这个一家一户进行的流行病学研究已经考察了圣菲省65,000人，发现（圣菲省不同地区）乳房癌、前列腺癌、肺癌等癌症发生率达到全国平均水平的两倍到四倍。研究者们还发现高发生率的甲状腺十条与慢性呼吸系统疾病。



"It could be linked to agrochemicals," he said. "They do all sorts of analysis for toxicity of the first ingredient, but they have never studied the interactions between all the chemicals they're applying."

“这些疾病可能与农业化学品关联”，他说。“它们对其中头一个成分的毒性做了各种各样的分析，但是从来没有研究过他们应用的配方的所有化学品的相互作用。”



Dr. Maria del Carmen Seveso, who has spent 33 years running intensive care wards and ethics committees in Chaco province, became alarmed at regional birth reports showing a quadrupling of congenital defects, from 19.1 per 10,000 to 85.3 per 10,000 in the decade after genetically modified crops and their agrochemicals were approved in Argentina.

玛丽亚·卡门·斯维索博士，在查科省管理重症监护病房和伦理委员会已经33年，看到该地区生育报告表明先天性缺陷字转基因作物及其农用化学品在阿根廷批准商业化使用后十年期间从19.1/万人增加为四倍达到85.3/万人后，引起了警觉。



Determined to find out why, she and her colleagues surveyed 2,051 people in six towns in Chaco, and found significantly more diseases and defects in villages surrounded by industrial agriculture than in those surrounded by cattle ranches. In Avia Terai, 31 percent said a family member had cancer in the past 10 years, compared with 3 percent in the ranching village of Charadai.

决心找出为什么这样的原因，她和她的同事在查科省对2,051人进行了调查，发现周边被工业化种植农业围绕的村庄，与周围为养牛场的村庄相比，疾病与新生儿畸形显著多。在Avia Terai，过去十年期间31%的家庭出现了癌症患者，与此相比Charadai周围为养牛场村庄只有３％的家庭出现了癌症患者。



From the labs of Missouri to the fields of Argentina

从密苏里州孟山都的实验室到阿根廷的现场农田



US based Monsanto rejects any suggestion that its products are the cause of this devastation.

总部设在美国的孟山都拒绝它们产品是这些灾难原因的任何说法。



"Glyphosate is even less toxic than the repellent you put on your children's skin," said Pablo Vaquero, Monsanto's corporate affairs director in Buenos Aires. "That said; there has to be a responsible and good use of these products because in no way would you put repellent in the mouths of children and no environmental applicator should spray fields with a tractor or a crop-duster without taking into account the environmental conditions and threats that stem from the use of the product."

“草甘膦甚至比抹在你孩子皮肤上的护肤霜的毒性更低”，帕博罗·瓦奎罗，孟山都驻布宜诺斯艾利斯的公司事务主任说。“就是说；这些产品必须以负责任方式良好食用，因为你也不能将护肤霜放到孩子口中，而且没有任何环境性应用者可以用拖拉机或者撒农药机械而不考虑环境性条件以及产品使用可能提出的威胁。”



Out in the Argentine fields these warnings are widely ignored.

在阿根廷的农田中，这些警告广泛被忽略。



Visiting these farm villages, Associated Press found chemicals in places where they were never intended to be.

访问了这些农场村庄时，美联社发现这些农业化学品放在它们从来没打算用的地方。



Claudia Sariski, whose home has no running water, says she doesn't let her twin toddlers drink from the discarded poison containers she keeps in her dusty backyard. But her chickens do, and she uses it to wash the family's clothes.

克劳迪娅·萨利斯基，家里没有自来水，说她不会让她的双胞胎孩子从满是灰尘后院里丢弃的有毒化学品容器喝水。但是她的鸡会喝那里的水，而且她会用这些容器中的水洗家里人的衣服。



"They prepare the seeds and the poison in their houses, and it's very common, not only in Avia Terai but in nearby towns, for people to keep water for their houses in empty agrochemical containers," explained surveyor Katherina Pardo. "Since there's no treated drinking water here, the people use these containers anyway. They are a very practical people."

“它们在家里准备种子与有毒化学品，而且，在丢弃的农业化学品容器中盛水，这非常普遍，不仅在Avia Terai，而且在附近的市镇也这样”，调查员卡瑟琳·帕多解释。“由于那里没有经过处理的饮水，当地人们使用这些容器。他们是非常实际的人们。”







在丢弃的农业化学品容器中盛水，这非常普遍。



The survey found diseases Seveso said were uncommon before - birth defects including malformed brains, exposed spinal cords, blindness and deafness, neurological damage, infertility, and strange skin problems.

调查中发现了斯维索博士说过去极少见的一些疾病 -- 包括大脑畸形,裸露脊髓、失明和失聪、神经损伤等出生畸形，不生不育，以及一些奇怪的皮肤问题。







爱萨·卡诺，多毛痣长满了全身



Aixa Cano, a shy 5-year-old, has hairy moles all over her body. Her neighbour, 2-year-old Camila Veron, was born with multiple organ problems and is severely disabled. Doctors told their mothers that agrochemicals may be to blame.

爱萨·卡诺，一位害羞的5岁女孩，多毛痣长满了全身。她的邻居，2岁的卡米拉·维伦，出生时有多器官问题，严重残疾。医生告诉它们的妈妈，农业化学品可能是罪魁祸首。







2岁的卡米拉·维伦，出生时有多器官问题，严重残疾。



"They told me that the water made this happen because they spray a lot of poison here," said Camila's mother, Silvia Achaval. "People who say spraying poison has no effect, I don't know what sense that has because here you have the proof," she added, pointing at her daughter.

“他们告诉我，水造成了这些问题，因为这里喷洒了许多有毒的化学品”，卡米拉的妈妈说。“有人说喷洒这些毒性化学品没有影响，我不知道他们为什么这样说，因为这里有证据”，她说，指了指她的女儿。



It's nearly impossible to prove that exposure to a specific chemical caused an individual's cancer or birth defect. But like the other doctors, Seveso said their findings should prompt a rigorous government investigation. Instead, their 68-page report was shelved for a year by Chaco's health ministry. A year later, a leaked copy was posted on the Internet.

几乎无法证实接触某种特定化学品造成某个人的癌症或者新生缺陷。但是像其他的医生一样，斯维索博士说她们的发现应当促使政府组织严格的调查。与此相反，她们68页的报告在查科省卫生部的文件柜中放了一年。一年后，泄露出来的报告在互联网上公布。



"There are things that are not open to discussion, things that aren't listened to," Seveso concluded.

“这是不公开讨论的问题，是得不到官员听取的问题”，斯维索博士结论。



Scientists argue that only broader, longer-term studies can rule out agrochemicals as a cause of these illnesses.

科学家们争辩说，只有广泛的、长期的研究才能排除这些农业化学品不是这些疾病的原因。



"That's why we do epidemiological studies for heart disease and smoking and all kinds of things," said Doug Gurian-Sherman, a former EPA regulator now with the Union of Concerned Scientists. "If you have the weight of evidence pointing to serious health problems, you don't wait until there's absolute proof in order to do something."

“这就是我们卫生对心脏病与抽烟和许多问题做流行病学研究的原因”，道格·古力安，美国环境保护署（EPA）前监管员，现在为《忧思科学家联盟》负责人。“如果你有众多证据指向严重的健康问题，你就不能等到有绝对证据后才采取应对措施”。



Monsanto and the regulators argue that misuse of agro-chemicals not the chemicals themselves and certainly not the genetically engineered crops they are sprayed on is the problem.

孟山都与监管机构争辩说，是农用化学品不适当使用，而不是农用化学品本身，更不是在对其喷洒这些农用化学品的转基因作物，造成了这些问题。



You can argue that – in theory – but in the real world in a real place like Argentina it all goes hand-in-hand like a horrific walk in hell.

你可以这样争辩 -- 理论上 -- 但是在阿根廷这样真实的世界，这些问题的关联清楚的像在地狱中走一遭。